Sometimes the Good Guys Win
by KaseiC
Summary: Igawa backstory. Heavy story, dark. OCs.
1. Chapter 1

Standard disclaimers apply.

Did I ever think, when I was little, that I would grow up doing what I'm doing now? Shit, man, why the hell not? _Allies of justice,_ right, what every kid in Japan was brainwashed to become by one Kamen Rider or another. 'Course, sooner or later it would be beaten out of most systems by pre-adolescent bullies; they call it a part of _growing up_. The average brat that was me was no exception.

My childhood was pleasant enough. I had a brother 7 years older than myself, so I was in a state of _laisser faire _for the most part. Our mother died early; our father sent us to the best schools in Tokyo but otherwise left us alone. That is, until Kagi-nii made it clear that he wasn't interested in inheriting the IT giant at the heart of Tokyo. He'd moved out of the house and studied Chemistry at Tokyo U. I was 12 at the time. That same year Naoko-san had married into the family; two years later we had a baby sister out of her. Her name was Igawa Mika.

_Mi_, for beauty. _Ka_, for well-being. She was our little precious, loved by us all.

---

The year Mika turned 6 I was finally accepted into Tokyo U. I went for the awesome-sounding _Integrated Materials Engineering and Computing_. My old man had liked _Business Management_ a whole lot better, but a major with the longest name in the Undergrad Calendar that made no sense and looked like it was made up by drawing words out of a hat – _that_ was more to _my_ liking. I rented a place with a sempai I knew from cram school and visited home whenever I wanted; and yet, on days when the damn lovebirds decide to nest at home, my only refuge was Kagi-nii's apartment.

People saw Kagi-nii as a cold, stoic, and _maybe_ occasionally sarcastic guy. Well he wasn't, not really; he was more like a cross between don't-give-a-damn and too-lazy-to-try. That he might, that he _could_ have had a lover – the possibility did not even cross me. So the evening I casually walked in his apartment like usual, and saw my ice-cube of a brother nailing another man on the couch with his knee, I had practically turned into stone.

Kagi-nii didn't even notice me until his lover blushed profusely and squirmed violently under him. As soon as Kagi-nii loosened up, the guy pushed him off and scurried out the door. Kagi-nii sat on the carpet looking at me, laughed a little, sighed a little, and chased after his lover with his coat, glasses and (I learned later) hearing aid. I did not know what to do.

When Kagi-nii returned I stuttered. "Wh-wh-wh-what the _hell_ was that? Who was that? What – _is the world turning without me_?" I could _never_ look at the couch the same way again.

"His name is Kei. You can call him Kei-_san_. He's a sempai in Environmental Science." Kagi-nii had returned to his usual, no-shit expression.

"_Environmental Sci_?" How did they even meet? "Their building is _miles_ away from the Chem Department!"

Only a couple hundred yards, actually, but Kagi-nii was an undergrad once too. He understood that having a boyfriend/girlfriend in a different _residence_ was enough to call it a long distance relationship. "We have joint seminars every month," and he considered it case closed. "By the way, Ryou. I am going to change the lock on that door," he pointed. "This time, please leave the spare key where it is?"

I must've walked out on Kagi-nii in a stunned daze; when I came to I was standing under tiers of blinking neon lights, strangely alone in the massive crowd that was downtown Tokyo. I hugged my coat around me and trudged towards my apartment building; better to disturb a loving couple of Iraya and Rose than my own _father and step-mother_. Along the way I dimly registered the month we were in: February. Valentine's Day was just around the corner. I cussed. The world was not a friendly place for a 20-year-old, single, man.

---

That night was not a _trigger_ of anything; the truth stands that the Earth does _not_ need a fluttering butterfly to lurch in its course, and the behemoth-beneath-still-water will move with or without a wake-up call from above. If anything, that night merely marked the end of the carefree, naïve Igawa Ryotarou; the end of a rosy vigorousness that spoke of hope. The end of nights that belonged truly to me.

The end of nights that smelled faintly of love.


	2. Chapter 2

Standard disclaimers apply.

Iraya was a lanky kid that wore thick glasses and moved awkwardly. The nut was from some farm in Hokkaido and planned to go back there once he was done, so why he was studying Actuarial Science I had _no_ idea. Rose was a freckled _crackhead_ from the Wakayama Prefecture and spoke Kansai-ben in all its glory; she didn't even bother finishing high school. _Everything_ about those two clashed – imagine a Q-tip marrying a _cow_. It's irksome even if they _are_ matched in size – just why are they together? It makes no sense.

"That's cuz we _complement_ each other, ya crazy sonova bitch_._"

…The hell was that?

"That's said crackhead _cow_ stifling you in your sleep, _aho_."

I sighed (yes, even in my sleep) and sat up, pushing away the heavy pile of – looked like every piece of clothing I had in my closet. "Rose…" I stifled a yawn. "How did you get in?" I locked my doors at night. It was my innocenceat stake here, alright?

"_Please_," Rose snorted. "That piece-of-shit disguised as a lock? You might as well leave your door open."

True that. Rose was…_multitalented_. Can't be blamed, really. She was abandoned at birth and grew up being kicked around in run-down orphanages; rumors had it that she wasn't even Japanese, that her parents were illegal immigrants from China. _Shina pigs_, we used to call those guys, back in our snobby private schools, and the local kids must've had something to the same effect. Girl had to fend for herself _somehow_, I suppose, and I'm sure her life was harder than what she had let me on.

I flopped back on my bed. "Whatever. What's up?" Usually Iraya's door was preferred over mine.

"Iraya wants you up. Says you got morning classes."

Ugh, Iraya. "Where is he?"

Rose gave out a goose bump-inducing, and strangely suggestive, giggle. "He's out still."

"Fancy that." I had a feeling that Rose knew that I knew about their nightly…_activities_. I did hack into the Police Department Databases occasionally; I dare say the patterns get pretty obvious when one of the persons-in-question _lived_ with you, and the other made a routine out of crashing your place. As I understood it, the pair worked to _make evidences available_ for stalled cases in subtle, suggestive, and largely illegitimate ways, and I be damned if they didn't also occasionally make them_ up_. It was expected of Rose: the girl held a near-personal grudge against injustices of the world. Never saw it in Iraya though, the awkward farm boy. "Tell him I'm ditching."

"No you ain't," Rose gave me an I'm-warning-you look. "Last night was _tricky_. Get your ass to school so they find you where you're supposed to be!"

–At that time I had assumed that Rose was using the generic "they", referring to anyone and no-one, and by "tricky" she had meant "tricky to _us_ but none of _your_ sorry-ass business," complete with her cocky-ass attitude and everything. I was wrong.

---

I was found "where I was supposed to be," that's for sure. I was napping in the back row of the lecture hall when the police car whee-whoo'd onto campus. I was cuffed and taken away in no time, and spent two nights in a jail cell. Rose really did a number on us this time.


End file.
